Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.16 / Trend A.Yusifzade /
The Iranian government has adopted the rules of reducing the number of public sector employees, Lotfollah Foruzandeh, vice-president for the Iranian Management Development and Human Resources, was quoted by Mehr, as saying.
He said that the staff will be reduced by 50 percent in some governmental agencies. The governmental plan of reducing the number of public sector employees may affect up to 619,000 public employees in 29 governmental agencies.
Earlier, Foruzandeh said that six ministries including the ministry of industry, the ministry of transportation, the ministry of science and the ministry of agriculture plan to transfer at least 40 percent of their employees from Tehran to other cities.
Moreover, the Iranian government recommends all state companies and organizations to transfer 40 percent of their employees from the capital to other cities. But state companies are not permitted to expand their activities in Tehran, Foruzandeh said.
"We have planned to transfer 80,000 of employees and 18,000 still have volunteered to be transferred," he added.
He also emphasized that the transfers are not compulsory. The government encourages employees to leave Tehran by offering them incentives.
Responding to the criticism voiced by some experts about such an action, he said that it is a time-consuming issue. It needs patience and precise planning.
While answering the question about the negative effects of decreasing working hours during the fasting month of Ramadan, he thinks that reducing working hours will increase staff motivation. He added that an eight-hour work day is based on the Western models. It is not appropriate for Iran.
The action of relocating state organizations and transferring employees from Tehran to other cities appeared when President Ahmadinejad called for to reduce densely populated Tehran.